This is one in a series of research briefings about preventive care and support for adults. Prevention is broadly defined to include a wide range of services that:

promote independence

prevent or delay the deterioration of wellbeing resulting from ageing, illness or disability

delay the need for more costly and intensive services.

Preventive services represent a continuum of support ranging from ‘primary prevention’ aimed at promoting wellbeing, through to ‘secondary’ or early intervention, and on to ‘tertiary services’ such as intermediate care provided by health and social care professionals. Tertiary services are aimed at minimising disability or deterioration from established health conditions or complex social care needs.1 The emphasis is on maximising people’s functioning and independence through approaches such as rehabilitation, intermediate care and reablement. This research briefing focuses on reablement.

Key messages

Reablement is generally designed to help
people learn or relearn the skills necessary
for daily living which may have been lost
through deterioration in health and/or
increased support needs. A focus on
regaining physical ability is central, as is
active reassessment.

People using reablement welcome the
emphasis on helping them gain
independence and better functioning,
although evidence on user and carer views
needs to be strengthened.

Reablement improves outcomes,
particularly in terms of restoring people’s
ability to perform usual activities and
improving their perceived quality of life.
From a social care perspective, there is a high
probability that reablement is cost effective.

Reablement achieves cost savings through
reducing or removing the need for ongoing
support via traditional home care. However,
there is currently little evidence to suggest
that it reduces health care costs.

Managers and care workers are generally
positive about reablement, valuing its
flexibility and the more responsive way
of working with people.

Occupational therapy skills are central
to reablement. These can be accessed by
training reablement staff rather than
having an occupational therapist as a
team member.

Complaints about reablement mainly
relate to handover (to a traditional home
care provider) and a lack of help with
domestic tasks.

Requirements for training, closer supervision
of care workers and longer, more responsive
and flexible visits all contribute to the
greater costs of reablement compared with
conventional home care. However, the
higher price of reablement is likely to be
offset by longer-term savings from reduced
social care-related needs.

About the development of this product

Scoping and searching

Scoping began in September 2010 and was completed in November 2010.

Peer review and testing

All three authors bring research and topic expertise. Lead author brings expertise in cost–effective analysis in social care. The briefing was peer reviewed internally and externally.

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